It's only February and the S&P 500 has already set record highs multiple times this year. With the economy looking strong, an election making risky political moves unlikely, and new trade policies in place with China, Mexico, and Canada, 2020 is shaping up to be another bullish year.
There have already been a number of big winners this year. Tesla shares have more than doubled this year on hopes for the company's disruptive potential in electric cars, batteries, and renewable energy, and Virgin Galactic shares have nearly tripled as bulls have pushed the only pure-play commercial space travel stock to new altitudes.
These won't be the only big winners this year. Let's take a look at three other stocks that could double by this summer.
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1. Bed Bath & Beyond
It may be surprising to see the struggling home goods retailer on this list, but investors are already starting to get clued in to the company's turnaround potential. The stock rallied all the way from $7.31 per share in August to more than $17 in December, after Mark Tritton was named as the new CEO in October. Tritton comes to Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) after serving as Chief Merchandise Officer at Target, where he helped guide that retailer to successful turnaround in part by launching a number of new owned brands at the big-box chain.
When Tritton has dropped hints about his strategy for Bed Bath & Beyond, investors have reacted favorably. Earlier this week, he said the company would sell personalizationmall.com for $252 million to help fund improvements in its stores, supply, and digital initiatives, pushing the stock up 7%.
It's also become clear that there's a lot of low-hanging fruit for Tritton to pick as he attempts to streamline the company. For instance, since taking the helm in November, he's cut the number of can openers the company sells from more than a dozen to three, and sales in the category rose. Doing so not only makes the customer experience better, but eliminates inventory and should help drive down costs and create economies of scale as the company can make bigger orders from the same suppliers.
The company earlier reported that comparable sales fell by an adjusted 13% in December and January, so its April earnings report will likely be a dud, but Tritton is preparing to roll out a comprehensive new strategy at an investor conference in May. If investors like what they hear and results improve, shares could make some serious gains.
2. Youdao
China stocks have been rocked by the coronavirus outbreak, and it's still unknown how long the outbreak will persist and disrupt everyday business in China. However, some stocks have been surprising winners on the threat.
Youdao (DAO), a Chinese online education specialist, spiked in the initial days after the outbreak became serious. As an online education provider, the stock was in a unique position to benefit from the coronavirus, which forced schools to close.
Schools are still closed indefinitely in China, but 200 million children are taking classes online.
Such an event gives Youdao the opportunity to raise its profile and grow its business. The company offers a number of online courses for K-12 students and others, as well as educational apps and devices like translators. The recent IPO is set to report fourth-quarter earnings on Wednesday, Feb. 26. The stock is lightly covered with just one analyst forecasting revenue of $453.7 million, but a better-than-expected report and a bullish outlook for 2020 could lift the stock and propel further gains over the coming months. Other Chinese online education stocks like TAL Education and New Oriental Education have already been big winners, and Youdao could easily follow in their footsteps.
3. Bill.com
Another IPO debutante, Bill.com,(BILL -1.48%) has made a big splash since its December debut on the market. The stock jumped 60% on opening day and gained again in its first earnings report as a publicly traded company earlier in February.
Bill.com is a provider of cloud-based software to handle back office operations, including payments for small and-medium-sized businesses. In its second-quarter earnings report, which came out in February, revenue jumped 50% to $39.1 million, smashing expectations at $33.8 million, and subscription revenue rose 61%, a promising sign for a SaaS model.
In its outlook, Bill.com's forecast was also much better than analyst expectations, indicating Wall Street may have underestimated this stock's potential growth. What's also attractive about Bill.com is its strong position in payments, a business that has generated significant profits for peers like Paypal. It spends much less than many cloud stocks on sales and marketing, which is also a bullish sign for future profitability as the company is able to grow rapidly without spending heavily on marketing. In the first half of the year it spent about 30% of its revenue on sales and marketing, but more went to research and development.
Bill.com won't report earnings again until May, but if tailwinds continue in cloud stocks and the company delivers another round of strong results, shares could move significantly higher.
